Punked on a Nautilus

[claytushaywood]

So I bought a Nautilus off the buy sell trade emporium here at madbean from member Calciferspit.  I only bought it because my buddy in a Jerry Garcia Band cover band "borrowed mine" and gave me back money instead of the pedal.  Anyways, I received the pedal and it 'works', but nothing like my previous build or a mutron iii.  Calicerspit actually tried to have me ship the pedal back before he refunded my money (and after not asnwering emails for weeks I refused to do this) then he after I opened a paypal claim (and before he responded to the claim) he told me that I had to provide proof of shipping before paypal would pay me back (this is true- once the seller responds to the claim or paypal makes a decision- but paypal hadnt heard anything from him).  Calciferspit somehow managed to delete his madbean profile and the page on the emporium where he posted the nautilus for sale.  Sorry to recount all of this haha- but I thought some of you might sympathize with me and want to help me get this sucker working.  Really dont want to troubleshoot something I didnt build, but I dont have any other options.

Anyways, here is whats going on.  The envelope works, it opens and closes, but it doesnt work well at all.  It wont react unless I have the gain knob turned up to a point where it starts clipping- about 11 oclock.  And I mean its distorting pretty good.  And I know mutrons waver a bit when you sustain a note, but this thing is wavering terribly.  It isnt nearly as sensitive as it should be.  I know how the mutron works and how the controls work and how it sound, but I really dont know where to begin to get this thing working.  It seems well built and has VTL5C3's and all the knobs work, though not quite like they're supposed to.

Where should I start taking measurements to trouble shoot this guy?

ANy help would be greatly appreciated and I apologize for the long post!

[jrod]

Have to you gone over it to make sure the builder used all the correct value parts? That's where I'd start.

[jkokura]

Getting us some voltages and some good high quality images of the PCB and wiring might help us greatly as well.

Jacob

[Betty Wont]

why bother, send it back and get your cash. wipe your hand of the whole thing, looks like an ordeal. The offer is out there before you tear it apart.

[jkokura]

why bother, send it back and get your cash. wipe your hand of the whole thing, looks like an ordeal.

If you had read his post, you'd know that he's not getting any response about getting his Cash back. He doesn't want to send the pedal assuming a refund would happen.

The guy he bought the pedal from went so far as to delete his whole Madbean profile... he's really trying to hide with this one.

Jacob

[Betty Wont]

I'd gladly take it back, just by the rules.

[jkokura]

In order for Paypal to refund you, you need to prove the agreement reached in order to buy something. So, the guy who sold it to him has deleted that from being available along with deleting his account. In this case, Paypal isn't able to get him his refund.

Jacob

[Betty Wont]

I dissagree. A claim is already pending the return.

[claytushaywood]

In order for Paypal to refund you, you need to prove the agreement reached in order to buy something. So, the guy who sold it to him has deleted that from being available along with deleting his account. In this case, Paypal isn't able to get him his refund.

Jacob

I dissagree.

you disagree?  Great thanks for the help.

He is challenging it on paypal- he tried to get me to send it back without a refund twice and before he ever responded to paypal.  He is on a scam.  Adam Baxter is his name... so keep your eyes open guys.  email is nofomofo at yahoo

So I assume I should I take voltages off the IC's?  can you take measurements off the vactrols?

If I measure resistors wont a lot of them show different values since theyre soldered into the circuit?
working on pictures now, already checked capacitor values against layout (not measured but identified visually)

[claytushaywood]

and I know there is a missing IC!  already started scrapping it for parts

One more question- there is a multilayer ceramic for c2 with the label "100" on it.  I just kinda assumed that was correct (10pf) given the way my other MLCC are labeled.  is this a 100pf?

[rullywowr]

If the PCB isn't toasted I would be down to buy it off you to ease the financial burden.  I also have a desoldering iron to get the parts off without damage if that helps. 

[claytushaywood]

resistors
r5 is going from 150k counter to 0k clockwise, showing the peak pot is working correctly.
the gain pot i dont feel is reacting like an audio pot- then I dont have much experience watching tapers.  But its reading 250k at 9oclock then 850k at noon, and its total resistance is 950k- maybe thats right

ALL the other resistors are measuring correctly- the trim pot is adjusting output volume
the switches are functionining

I'm gonna try to reflow some solder joints that look skimped on the top and then try it out again. 

I originally thought it was a bad vactrol just when hearing it (call it clairvoyance haha) Are there measurements I can take off of these to insure they are functioning properly?

[jkokura]

Yes, but not usually in circuit. You can look up the ratings you should expect for a 5C3, dark and light resistance, and you can also check into the values you should be applying to get the right brightness on the LED. Measure it up for it's resistance at dark and light, and that should indicate if it's within tolerance.

Jacob

[Betty Wont]

I feel attempting to modify voids the agreement and potential to return. just sayin'. It worked perfectly and should be returned in original condition.

[GermanCdn]

Putting a turd in the box doesn't go over very well with the PP folks.  I've done it.  And it wasn't my dogs.